Scientists are attempting to bring back an ancient elephant-sized cow

Scientists are close to bringing back a huge ancient cattle
species called an aurochs.

Aurochs roamed Europe for thousands of years until the last
of their kind died in the Jaktorow Forest in Poland in 1627. They
were 7 ft tall and weighed around 1,000kg.

Since 2009, European science teams have been breeding cattle
which still carry aurochs DNA. Two programmes are attempting to
revive a version of the aurochs through breeding.

One is Operation Taurus, which has selectively bred 300 calves
with aurochs DNA via a process called back-breeding. They select
breeds of cattle which have certain aurochs characteristics and
each generation of calves gets closer to the original aurochs in
appearance, behaviour and genetic makeup.

There are several breeds of cattle the scientists use which have
characteristics closest to the aurochs, including the Maremmana
from Italy and Podolica and Busha breed from the Balkans.

"They have the highest percentage of aurochs genetic
material," Professor Donato Matassino from the operation told the Telegraph."I don't think we'll ever
be able to create an animal that is 100% like the aurochs, but we
can get very close."

Another programme trying to revive the aurochs is The Taurus
Project in Portugal, which has also been cross-breeding species
in an attempt to recreate the animal.

These programmes are all part of the Rewilding
Europe project, which aims to reintroduce Europe's lost, wild
species, which would not only help the environment, but also be
good for local tourism.

"Wild cattle are one of the species that shaped the European
landscape over hundreds of thousands of years," Wouter Helmer,
founder of Rewilding Europe, told the Telegraph. "If there are no large
herbivores then the forest regenerates very fast.

"Big grazing animals keep patches of land open and create variety
in the landscape which helps many thousands of species of plants,
insects and animals."